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Netflix CEO Pushing Creative Team to 'Take More Risks'

Netflix will be pushing the envelope more as the streaming giant plans to take on bolder decisions when it comes to choosing properties that they greenlight according to company CEO Reed Hastings. Over the last few years, Netflix has become the leading on-demand platform with more than 93 million active subscriptions worldwide by the end of 2016. And it is only expected that these numbers further surge with the planned follow-up seasons of massive hits like Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why and Narcos.

Despite being founded two decades ago, Netflix did not come into prominence until the last few years when they started to expand to produce their own content starting with the Kevin Spacey-starrer House of Cards. The political thriller both received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and has since then amassed its own fan following. Backed up with an extremely successful in-house production, Netflix further ventured into making their own shows under their Netflix Originals banner. Since then, they have branched out to do more series and films tackling issues that normal broadcast stations might not be too keen on taking.

Hastings shared in a conversation with CNBC that with a fairly impressive track record, he continues to encourage Netflix's production team to find properties that are different from the normal TV shows that audience see on screen today. These unique properties, in fact, are the ones that are most likely to surprise them with immense positive feedback from the viewing public.

"Our hit ratio is way too high right now. So, we’ve canceled very few shows … I’m always pushing the content team: We have to take more risk; you have to try more crazy things. Because we should have a higher cancel rate overall. [By taking risks] you get some winners that are just unbelievable winners, like 13 Reasons Why. It surprised us. It’s a great show, but we didn’t realize just how it would catch on."

Netflix offering fans something different in terms of narrative and production arguably contributes to the high success rates of their shows. Their original series are hardly a copy of another property, which means that there is something for everybody in their show catalog. Furthermore, their massive subscription numbers allow them some wiggle room to explore uncharted territories when it comes to storytelling.

Aside from creating their own shows and movies, as well as streaming previously broadcasted properties, Netflix has also become a platform for canceled shows on TV. Longmire, for example, was canceled by A&E after its third season, picked up by the streaming giant and now it will be able to formally wrap up its story with its upcoming sixth and final season.

With the hustle and bustle of every day, the audience barely has the ability to sit in front of the TV at a specific hour and catch their favorite shows on broadcast. This prompted the immense popularity of on-demand media services with Netflix at the forefront of it.